The Story of Maths 3: The Frontiers of Space

By 17^th century, Europe has begun to replace Middle East as the world’s powerhouse for mathematical ideas. In France, Germany, Holland and Britain the race was about understanding the mathematics of objects in motion.  It was in a village at the heart of France where the pursuit of new mathematics has started. The village was a home to Descartes and was named after him as well.  For Descaartes, removing all distractions is a requirement before starting with mathematical works.  He even thought that the bed was the best place to achieve such meditative state. I was quite wondering whether or not Descartes could sleep whilst he’s on his bed.

Descartes found a home in Holland. He’d been one of the champions of a new scientific revolution which rejected the dominant feud that the sun went round the earth. Descartes may not have been the most sociable person but there is no doubt that his intelligence, his contribution and insights on the connection of algebra and geometry transformed mathematics forever.

Another first class mathematician, Marin Mersenne, went to the same school as Descartes. He saw Math and Science as evidence of the existence of God. One of the discoveries of prime numbers is still named after him. He published new findings on the properties of numbers by an unknown amateur who end up rivaling Descartes, Pierre de Fermat. He loved looking for patterns in number and proved that these patterns will be there forever. One of his theorems is the basis of the codes that protects our credit cards. But the usefulness of Fermat’s mathematics is nothing compared to Isaac Newton’s.

 Isaac Newton developed a new theory of light, discovered gravitation, scribbled out a revolutionary approach to math, the calculus. Calculus enables us to understand the changing world, the motions of fluid, and the orbits of the planet. Newton decided not to publish his work on Calculus.

However, a rival, Gottfried Leibniz, came up with the same idea as him.  Although he did not get as famous as Isaac Newton, he continued his work on mathematics. He was also one the few people who invented a calculating machine that worked on a binary system. The similarity between his work and Newton’s gained controversies and debates. Isaac Newton was credited the work while Leibniz was credited for the first publication. But, as it was mentioned, it was the Bernoulli family who helped developed Calculus.

In the last part of the documentary, it was said that Riemann’s mathematics changed how we see the world. The potential was there in Descartes’ ideas but it was Riemann’s imagination that made it happen. It was with Riemann’s that we finally have the mathematical glasses to be able to explore the worlds of the art.

There was a spirit of mathematical communication in the 17^th century. We could clearly see it in the documentary. All events and things during that time have a connection to Mathematics. In France, for example, the revolution emphasized the importance of mathematics, especially when it comes to artilleries. The buildings, the architecture which was shown in the video, all had a link to math.